“When does a robot stop being a sex toy, and start being an emotional surrogate for a “real” person worthy of jealousy?”

When the person uses it begins to prefer it over his/her partner and it affects the relationship.

There is a big difference between a sex toy and emotional surrogacy. From a male perspective I wouldn’t even want it to happen and I don’t think women have much to worry about. I think you are each irreplaceable.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uu6dUX5MNcY

There are already customizable humanoid sex dolls and like @Seaofclouds then partners will become jealous anytime they feel neglected and something else preferred.

Agreed with @Seaofclouds since they’ll want the pleasure more outta that rather than having it out of their partner….Sorta sad to me….But plus I’m afraid of malfunctions….What would happen if they began doing something that’s not related to the actual pleasure…It mostly just turns into rape….

I imagine men will be thrilled as the price of the sex dolls drop in price. They already prefer the look and feel of artificial breasts, ass cheeks, hair and lips so stepping up to a toy that doesn’t gag, bite, say “ouch, that hurts” and can take getting ass reamed at full bore should really be good business. For emotional sex then there will still be 900 sex chat numbers and the internet.

Well either way, if that were to arise, looks like prostitutes are out of a job then, ha.

All of the above would be my best guess. They will be used as sex toys and rel people will sometimes get jealous. Wouldn’t you feel jealous if your SO prefer ed a mechanical toy to you? I certainly would.

@Neizvestnaya They already prefer the look and feel of artificial breasts, ass cheeks, hair and lips…

Not true… like at all.

I think this would bother most people. You look at an average sex toy, and it’s basically just a detached appendage. And sex dolls are laughable. But a life-like robot? I would imagine that in this hypothetical, that the bots would be pretty damn realistic. So basically, it’s another man or woman that can’t technically feel emotions, but can simulate them seamlessly. This, along with being creepy, could be perceived as a threat easily by most people. I mean hell, people still get jealous over the aforementioned detached appendages, so a humanoid robot would be right out for most people.

Is it going to be delivered in a flying car?

Seriously, how good are the chances that “lifesize customizable robot” is going to appear to be recognizably human in any but the most superficial ways? On the other hand, given how upset some women are that their men use 2D porn… and some men, that their women use battery-operated toys of their own… then the answer should be obvious: people will be jealous of anything that diverts the interest and attention of their intended from themselves.

As long as people succomb to jealously, anything can happen. The trick is to not let yourself become a slave to jealousy.

@CyanoticWasp: If it comes in a flying car then yes, I’ll want one.

@Neizvestnaya Wow you really have a low opinion of men.

@FutureMemory: I’m in my 40’s, have been married, have been coupled, have been singled and never before have I encountered men like I have in the past 5 years where I now live. Trust me, what I say seems to be the norm of the men here and it scares me. Personally, I’ve been pretty lucky with my own men not being anything like what I describe above. The men tell me that other men just don’t go around telling the truth about what they like but since I work with teams of 50+ men then they don’t feel shy to include me as “one of the boys” when it comes to their talk.

Using a humanoid like that would simply creep the crap out of me, ethically. @Winters is making sense, BTW.

@Neizvestnaya Man…that’s sad. I’m sorry to hear that.

@FutureMemory: It’s weird. Guys here will give girls compliments such as… “she’s hot, if she had some bolt ons (implants), got some good hair (extensions) and a tan (spray on) then she’d be a 9 or 10”. That kind of thing. Where I live now then if you don’t whiten your teeth, keep a spray tan, have plumped lips, fake boobs, multi-colored hair and completely waxed nether regions then you’re pretty much out of style or “old fashioned”.

That’d have to be one damn good robot for me to consider it a replacement for a real life partner. And my experience as being a woman who sleeps with women, trust me when I say that, no matter how good it is, a fake penis is no substitute for the real thing. I have a hard time believing that robotics could make those kinds of leaps and bounds, especially since the sex toy industry hasn’t come up with one yet that is an exact imitation.

Yes and yes. I don’t understand why there’s an ‘or’ in the question.

Given that people can feel jealous of pornography, dildos, vibrators, and all manner of non-human sexual objects—I don’t see why sex robots, should they be so developed, would be any exception.

I’ve read about this in some scientific magazine a few years ago (I can’t remeber which) that talked about this. We are at least several hundred years away from creating anything artificially that can compete with “real” human emotions. I’m not sure the jealousy here would be any different than any other thing that people would get jealous of like in other possessions they may pay more attention to.

These humanoid robots (from what I’ve read) may become very popular in the future for many people that have a hard time getting a “human” mate because of shyness, deformities, severe mental/physical conditions and such. I personally do not think we will ever be able to duplicate real emotions/reason/empathy into an artificial intelligence system.

What occurs to me is that if technology advances to this state, sex will be only one of the tasks assigned to these devices. Think of the work they could do! Think of how many of us will be replaced! It is much easier to have a robot fail, then have a worker make a workers comp claim. Sex, I think, is the impetus that will bring these wonders into existence…and eliminate many important roles humans play today. Will it be ubiquitous…maybe not at first…but neither were computers 50 years ago. As more people adopt the cost will steadily decrease, until they are mainstream. I predict some similitude of this will occur before the dawn of the next century.

@Ltryptophan I thought you would be more optimistic…
lol, sorry, that was lame..

When the humanoid robots gain emotion, intelligence, and can anticipate the want/need of the owner. Then the (human) significant other will become the somewhat less significant other.

I would be jealous.
And I would also have a sexbot or three. I would probably keep them secret.

Much of Isaac Azimov’s fiction dealt with such questions. When robots become self-aware, these machines cross the line into sentience and that is were the questions and answers really get very complex ans fascinating!

If it can do that then it can mow the lawn and take out the recyclables too and I am good with that. When it starts to drink my beer then I will get upset.

@Dr_Lawrence I’m not too worried about it. Half of the humans I know haven’t become sentient yet.

Self-aware, fully-equipped androids mastering human language will have the ability to cause jealousy. Everything else is just a sex toy.